Gaius Fulvius Silanus

Gaius Fulvius Silvanus (349 BC-?) was a Roman general and politician who held the rank of Tribune and Propraetor during the Samnite Wars. In 316 BC he saved the city of Capua from the Samnites with the aid of Rome's Lucanian allies, and was granted emergency powers after Consul Marcus Popillius Laenas's death in Capua.

Biography
Gaius Fulvius Silvanus was born into a plebeian family who had never held high rank. Before 316 BC, he was elected as a Tribune, and in his early military career, he was the commandant of the grain stores at Tarracina. However, he gained the fame he needed when he rushed to the aid of besieged Capua in 316, holding off Samnite attacks until the Lucanians arrived and routed the Samnite army. Silvanus was hailed as a hero, and when Consul Laenas died of wounds recieved in battle three days later, he was granted the title of Propraetor. Silvanus was tasked with defending Campania from the Samnites to the south, and in 311 BC, he defeated Lucius Octavius Macer's Samnite army at the First Battle of Vesuvius. After this triumph, he was called to Rome and was given command of the army that would invade Samnium.

Later in 311 BC, he recaptured the lost settlement of Salernum, which had been captured by the Samnites years before early in the Second Samnite War. For taking Salernum, it re-opened Rome's routes to the hinterlands, and for this he was made Proconsul, and was given full civil and military power. He was introduced to matters of state in 310 BC after overseeing the end of Spurius Postumius Fundanus' revolt in Latium, and became a dictator for most of the war.